Conventional and unsustainable approaches to economic development, driven frequently by outside entities. This includes a narrow focus on resource development at the expense of more diverse, less shock prone, economies.

Persistent social inequality compared with lower elevation/latitude counterparts, whether exceptional rates of tuberculosis in rural Alaska, to the persistence of chronic hunger from Nunvaut to the Guatemala Highlands.

An intimate tie to environmental services, whether for tourism or subsistence. Water and food insecurity are especially pressing challenges.

Both regions, however, are also home to significant assets - from language and local knowledge to innovative forms of governance and context-sensitive development.

AMRDI wants to encourage local leaders, youth and the disenfranchised to continue to fight for safe, sustainable livelihoods while protecting the assets with which they are presented, whether language, sacred landscapes, or ecological services.